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Sunday, January 10, 2010

LED Backlit LCD Television Shipments to Rise by Factor of Eight in 2010

I first saw one of the new light emitting diode (LED) backlit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) televisions developed by Samsung Electronics almost one year ago now. My wife and I had walked over to a Samsung outlet in the neighborhood. It was a jaw-dropping experience. There was such a dramatic reduction in the thickness and weight from the similar Samsung LCD television we'd purchased some weeks earlier that it was almost hard to believe. The graphic posted here shows iSuppli's forecast for increased worldwide shipments of the LED backlit televisions compared with the older, thicker, heavier models that depend on cold cathode flourescent lamps (CCFL) for backlighting. In 2010 alone, shipments of LED backlit LCD televisions 40 inches in size and larger will rise by a factor of nearly eight, reaching 18.8 million units, up from 2.5 million in 2009. (Click on the graphic to see a full-size version.)
The greatest driving force in this growth is consumer acceptance and demand. Based on my first reaction to the new television sets, I'm not at all surprised! The new television sets are much more expensive than older models and their are still some technical issues, such as LED lifetimes and thermal issues. However, what iSuppli notes as the "ace in the hole" for these new television sets is that they are in tune with the interest of governments, corporations and people around the world in "going green." They consume less power than the older sets based on CCFL backlighting. However, the form factor of the new sets, being just a fraction of the thickness (they are just over one inch thick and light enough for one person to pick up and mount a 55" set on the wall!)
Korea's leading manufacturers currently hold a dominant market position in LED backlit televisions, having introduced them early last year, months before any Japanese or other competitors.